[Rdd]

Freesat - or rather free to air satellite, as it’s rarer to find someone with an official Freesat branded receiver, since they can't be officially sold here (doesn’t stop anyone who wants one buying one in Newry or indeed on Amazon) - has become huge in Ireland in recent years, there’s a whole industry grown up surrounding installations of systems that often include combo boxes for both Saorview and free to air satellite. It wouldn’t be anywhere near pay-TV but it would still be a significant enough number to be in the 100,000s by now. TAM/Nielsen estimate it at about 18%*in terms of how they constitute their panel - they think it’s now bigger than cable (but nowhere near Sky’s 38%).

*That number would I acknowledge include a much smaller number of systems aimed at satellites other than Astra.